Supporting Car-Following Behaviors for Heterogeneous Drivers with Explicit Information of the Lead Vehicle

Abstract

Rear-end collisions are prevalent and are closely related to car-following (CF) behavior. In this study, we proposed three in-vehicle human-machine interfaces (HMIs) to provide progressively richer information about the lead vehicle (LV), including speed information (HMI-vel), time headway (THW) information on top of HMI-vel (HMI-THW), and coloured risk warnings based on THW thresholds on top of HMI- THW (HMI-alert). Cluster analysis was conducted to identify heterogeneous driver groups in a driving simulator study with 24 participants. Results showed that, in general, enhancing drivers’ perception of lead-vehicle states improved the safety margin during car-following segments without intensive braking, but certain HMIs impaired speed stability, with the effects varying across driver groups. Furthermore, the safety benefits of HMIs, reflected by reduced collision risk, differed across driver groups. These findings highlight the importance of considering driver heterogeneity and adaptive HMI designs to support safe car-following behaviors.